3 children killed in ANA shelling in Herat’s Shindand

HERAT CITY (Pajhwok): Three children were killed and a woman was among four others wounded after Afghan forces shelled suspected Taliban’s hideouts in the Shindand district of western Herat province, a tribal elder said on Tuesday.

Tor Mohammad Zarifi, a tribal elder and a former member of the provincial council, told Pajhwok Afghan News the casualties occurred in Zir Koh village of the district on Monday afternoon. Only one rebel was killed in the artillery shelling, he said.

Jilani Farhad, the governor’s spokesman, confirmed the shelling by Afghan National Army (ANA) in Shindand but denied civilians casualties.

Farhad said militants had suffered casualties in the incident but exact figures were not yet known. He said initial reports suggested a Taliban leader and some ANA service members had been killed and wounded.

He rejected if civilians had suffered any casualties. The security forces were busy collecting dead corpses of the rebels, Farhad said, promising further information about Taliban casualties would be shared with the media soon.